Jazz musicians from Israel aren't necessarily going to have Jewish or Middle Eastern influences in their music. Having a Tel Aviv or Jerusalem address doesn't automatically mean that an Israeli jazz musician is going to sound any different from a jazz musician who has spent his/her entire life in Boston or St. Louis. That said, some Israeli/Jewish jazz musicians have enriched their work by incorporating elements of traditional Jewish and Middle Eastern music, and acoustic pianist
Yitzhak Yedid is one of them.
Yedid even featured an oud player extensively on his album
Suite in Five Movements (the oud is a traditional Middle Eastern lute). There is no oud player on
Since My Soul Loved, but
Yedid's appreciation of Middle Eastern music asserts itself nonetheless -- which is not to say that this 2007 date isn't jazz-oriented. Jazz is the album's main ingredient, although Jewish, Middle Eastern, Arabic, and North African musics are attractive influences along with avant-garde Euro-classical music. Some will describe
Since My Soul Loved (which contains a 54-minute suite comprised of four movements) as mildly avant-garde jazz, while others will describe it as third steam or chamber jazz -- and some will say that it is world jazz. All of those terms are relevant to
Since My Soul Loved, which finds
Yedid forming a quintet with violinist Daniel Hoffman, viola player Galia Hai, cellist Jonathan Gotlibovich, and acoustic bassist Ora Boasson Horev.
Yedid, in fact, is the only one on this album who isn't playing some type of string instrument, and that abundance of string instruments adds to the disc's Euro-classical/chamber appeal. This cerebral outing is not easy to absorb, but listeners who have some patience and aren't afraid of abstraction or complexity will find a lot to enjoy on
Since My Soul Loved -- which isn't quite as essential as
Suite in Five Movements but is still a rewarding effort from this Israeli pianist. ~ Alex Henderson